Monday 4th February – Goal Scoring Problems

As always this is notes and details on the podcast - subscribe FREE and listen to the podcast first.

Haiti v El Salvador second friendly
On Monday El Salvador and Haiti played out a second nil all draw in a game that once again the visitors had the best of. Both teams have got to be happy with a clean sheet but surely both managers are now deeply concerned about the problems in front of goal, last ball and finishing.

Haiti: - 4-4-2
Manager – Pierre Songe

Gabart Fenelón
Merlier Pierre (x Olrish Saurel 58 mins)
Paulin Jean
Pierre Richard Bruny
Frantz Gilles
Brunel Fucien
Alain Yubert
Peter Germian
Jean Sony Alcenat
Eliphene Cadet (x Fritzon Baptiste 63 mins)
Jerrod Laventure (x Jemps Dorcelus 71 mins)

El Salvador: - 3-5-2
Manager – Carlos De Los Cobos

Miguel Montes

Zelvin Zepeda
Marvin Gonzalez
Rolando Torres

Ramon Flores (x Shawn Martin 45 mins)
Dennis Alas (x Oscar Jiménez 45 mins)
Osael Romero (x Ramón Sánchez 69 mins)
Ronald Cerritos (x Manuel Salazar 90 mins)
Alfredo Pacheco

Salvador Coreas
Rudis Corrales (x Emerson Umaña 71 mins)

In short a tight game only really gave two chances at either end, Ramon Flores involved in both. Although he had a good game it is hard to see him displacing Shawn Martin on the right wing, and with Alfredo Pacheco playing well on the left wing it is hard to see where there is room for him in the starting line up.

I believe De Los Cobos will use an attacking 3-5-2 for the home leg v Anguilla, with JuanJo Gomez in goal. Luis Hernández, Marvin Gonzalez and Ronaldo Torres as the back three. The wingers will be Shawn Martin & Alfredo Pacheco. Up front I see Ronald Cerritos and Rudis Corrales.

This leaves the three midfield positions, I am certain he will have two creative midfielders, Eliseo “Cheyo” Quintanilla coming back from Panama will probably be given a fairly free role, with William Torres alongside him, and Dennis Alas as “contencion”.

Alas’s versatility could come into play, and maybe he will start with Alas & Oscar Jimenez as two holding in the centre, and Cheyo as the only creative player while they feel out the unknown quantity of Anguilla. If all is well, then Alas can push up. My prediction, for a good bet, 0-0, you ought to be able to get 50-1 on that, if not don’t take it.

Second Division Jornada 3 – Midweek
Group A
Estudiantes 0 – Vendaval 0
(Sandoval, Rivera, Flamenco, Delgado, Amaya, Dowson Prado, Sánchez (x Girón 46m), González (y), Elgart (x Santamaría 79m), Figueroa, Flores (x Tobar 58m), manager:- Carlos Gerardino)

(Hernández, Panameño, Medina, González (y), Portillo, Sandoval, Cruz (yyr), Carrillo (x Rodríguez 77m), Trejo, Erazi (x Hernández 90m), Santos (x Sosa 65m), manager:- Juan C Carreño)

Santa Tecla 1 – Juventud 2
(17 Juan José Cruz, 29 Mauricio Mauricio (x 21 Deris Avilés 71m), 3 Carlos Rivera, 2 Hilmar Meléndez, 5 Pedro Reyes, 10 Marvin Bernal (g 14m), 23 Miguel Menjivar (x 22 Carlos Menjivar 59m), 15 Allan Fernández, 6 Juan C Pichinte (y), 9 Josué Guardado (y)(x 28 Jonathon Nerio 91m), 19 Jhon Castillo, manager:- Jorge Quezada)

Atl Marte 5 – Marte Soyap. 0
Curazao 3 – Once Lobos 2
Arcense 4 – Sonsonete 1
A.D. Municipal 0 – Fte Aguijares 1

Group B
A.F.I. 4 – Liberal I.R. 1
Atl Balboa 1 – Liberal 0
Platense 2 – Topltzin 1
Aspirante 3 – Fte. Sn Fco 1
Tehuacan 1 – Municipal Limeño 0
Chaparas 1 – A.D.I.F.C 1

Some Thoughts On Footy
How Terry Butcher left his mark in Australia during his terrible stint at Sydney FC

CONCACAF Champions League

Norwich City
Under Grant & Duffy this season:-
Pld 13 W2 D2 L9 Pts 8 Gf 7 Ga 18

Under Glenn Roeder this season:-
Pld 17 W8 D6 L3 Pts 30 Gf 22 Ga 17

See The Darel Russel wonder goal
All City news at The Pink 'Un

Andy Webster
BBC 2006
BBC 2007
FIFA 2008 – FIFA Dismayed

Second Division Jornada 4 – Weekend
Group A
Marte Soypango 5 – Curazao 0
Vendaval 3 – Santa Tecla 3
Once Lobos 2 – Estudiantes 2
Fuerte Aguilares 1 – Arcense 1
Juventud Independiente 1 – A.D. Municipal 1
Sonsanate 1 – Atlético Marte 2

Group B
Atl. Chaparras 0 – Tehuacán 0
Municipal Limeño 1 – Aspirante 1
Topiltzín v Atlético Balboa postponed (owing to teams having the same kit)
Fte. Sn. Fco. 3 – Plantense 2
Liberal 0 – A.F.I. 1
Liberal I.R. 1 – A.D.I. 0

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifications
This region has a total of 35 countries In the first round the Bottom 11 seeded teams in CONCACAF play a two legged home-and-away tie against the second bottom 11 seeded teams to move onto the second round where the winners of each of these ties will meet one of the top 12 seeds in the region, who all had byes to the second round.

The country ranked 13th (St Vincent & The Grenadines) also had a bye but will meet a top 12 seed:- Canada

(The team in brackets is the seed the winner will meet and the “G” number is which group the winner of the second round will end up in for the third round, or first group stage)
Of the first leg games (and by request) the Dominican Republic v Puerto Rico (Honduras G2), US Virgin Isles v Grenada (Costa Rica G3) and Suriname v Monserrat (Guyana G3) ties are single winner-takes-all games to be played on 26th March. This is because the “away” teams had no provision to host (or move) a game. The last game will actually be played in Trinidad & Tobago as neither side can provide a venue. Monserrat are one of the worst teams in world football. Titus Bramble is eligible to play for Monserrat.

Other important oddities:- All games are played on 6th February and 26th March, except Bermuda v Cayman Islands (Trinidad & Tobago G1), who played on the 3rd February, finishing 1-1, and the second leg will be on 30th March. The “home” leg of Belize v St Kitts & Nevis (Mexico G2) will be played in Guatemala. As is known the Anguilla leg of El Salvador v Anguilla (Panama G3) will be played in Washington DC. Bahamas v British Virgin Isles (Jamaica G2) will have both legs played in the Bahamas.

The other games not mentioned above are:-
Group 1
Dominica v Barbados (USA G1)
Turks & Caicos Isles v Saint Lucia (Guatemala G1)
Araba v Antigua & Barbuda (Cuba G1)

Group 3
Nicaragua v Netherlands Antilles (Haiti G3)

Check the results at FIFA.com

After the first round the seeds come in for another home-and-away tie, the winners going to the 3 groups outlined above.

The third round is three groups of 4 teams, home and away fixtures 3 points for a win. The top two progress to the fourth and final round. “The Hexagonal” again 3 points for a win league, the top three going to South Africa and the 4th placed team having home-and-away play-off chance against the fifth placed CONMEBOL (South America) country, ensuring a total of 8 teams from the Americas.

Check the podcast for my wild predictions.

Full Squads:-
El Salvador
Goalkeepers:-
Juan José Gómez (Firpo)
Miguel Montes (Nejapa)
Henry Hernández (Firpo)

Defenders:-
Ramón Flores (FAS)
Luis Miguel Hernández (Águila)
Zelvin Zepeda (San Salvador)
Marvin González (FAS)
José Rolando Torres (Águila)
Manuel Salazar (Firpo)
Alfredo Pacheco (FAS)

Midfielders:-
Shawn Martin (Águila)
Romeo Monteagudo (Firpo)
José Eduardo Campos (Firpo)
Ramón Sánchez (Chalatenango)
Dennis Alas (Real Maryland, USA)
Óscar Jiménez (FAS)
William Osael Romero (Vista Hermosa)
William Torres Alegría (Águila).

Forwards:-
Ronald Cerritos (Real Maryland, USA)
Rudis Corrales (Águila)
Emerson Umaña (FAS)
Salvador Coreas (Vista Hermosa)
Eliseo Quintanilla (Liga Alajuelense, Costa Rica)

Anguilla:-
1 – Leon Jeffers
2 – Gordon Conner
3 – Godwin Davy
4 – Walwyn Benjamin
5 – Andre Griffith
6 – Romare Kelsick
7 – Ian Edwards
8 – Kevin Hawley
9 – Jaiden Abbott
10 – Kieran Kentish
11 – Lucien Fleming
12 – James Williams-Richardson – Maidenhead Utd
13 – Romell Gumbs – Slough Town
14 – Roy Gumbs – Beaconsfield SYCOB
15 – Robert Paris – Hampton & Richmond Borough FC
16 – Emerson Brooks-Meade – Leighton Town
17 – Brian Connor – Slough Town
18 – Jermaine Gumbs – Slough Town